Eugene Williams (jazz critic)
Eugene Bernard Williams was an American jazz writer who, in 1939, co-founded Jazz Information, and in 1942, co-produced Bunk Johnson.Life and education
Williams was born in Manhattan, New York. He enrolled at Columbia College, Columbia University, in 1934 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1938.
In June 1938, as a senior at Columbia, Williams was one of two recipients to win the Philolexian Prize for excellence in prose and poetry. The Philolexian Society was, at the time, one of the three oldest literary societies in America. Williams received the prose prize for his essay, "The Elements of Jazz." The other recipient, Ralph Toledano, president of the Philolexian Society, won the poetry prize for his 28-line poem, "Primavera." The judges were Jacques Barzun, instructor of history, and Howard Theodric Westbrook, instructor in Greek and Latin.Columbia cohorts
Williams' contemporaries a Columbia included:
- Walter Elliott Schaap , noted pioneering jazz historian.
- Ralph Gleason, in 1939 co-founded with Williams Jazz Information, and in 1967, co-founded Rolling Stone
- Barry Ulanov was editor of Metronome Magazine from 1943 to 1955
Family and death
Eugene's father, Joseph Williams, died when he was. His mother, Anna Freid, died when he was. He had only one sibling, a sister, Josephine Williams, who had been married to Joseph Akibba Turitz.
Williams died May 5, 1948, in Manhattan and his body was cremated May 10, 1948, at Fresh Pond Crematory and Columbarium, located in Middle Village, New York.Selected work
Articles
- "Omer Simeon", by Herman Rosenberg & Eugene Williams, Vol. 2, No. 1, July 26, 1940, pps. 8–9
- "New Orleans Clarinets: 2 – Edmond Hall", by Herman Rosenberg & Eugene Williams, Vol. 2, No. 2, August 9, 1940
- "A History of Jazz Information", by Eugene Williams, Vol. 2, November 1941, pps. 93–101
Books
- Jazzways, George Sigmund Rosenthal & Frank Zachary
Discography
- Bunk Johnson's Jazz Band''
